<div dir="ltr">
<span class="gmail-postbody">I've seen oil drops for quite a while now. I thought it was the oil cooler and I did feel something in that area is leaking a bit. Fixed
the oil sump, no leak there. I drove today about 10 miles. Got home to
see if the sump plate was still dry, it was . While I watched for a
minute or so I saw two small drips dead center front of the engine where it
meets the auto trans diff bell housing.
<br>
<br>
Sounds like the rear main seal. I have to live with it. No way I can
deal with pulling the engine which if I did I would leave the trans/diff
in place.
Plus as some know the flex plate has to come off and the issue is I don't have a torque wrench capable of tightening that to the proper spec and being a flex plate it's very difficult to secure the engine to do this. <br>
<br></span><div><span class="gmail-postbody">
Yet it being a 73 with all the FI wiring horror which earlier FI didn't
have everywhere. I'll live with it and keep an eye on it. I'd rather
deal with oil cooler seals.</span></div><div><span class="gmail-postbody"><br></span></div><div><span class="gmail-postbody"> Wish there was something to pour in to seal it yet that's not a very good idea and only a butcher would do this. <br></span></div><div><span class="gmail-postbody"><br></span></div><div><span class="gmail-postbody">William<br></span></div>
</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 7:24 AM Jim Adney <<a href="mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org">jadney@vwtype3.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Sounds like you did a nice job. It's amazing how that thick plate gets <br>
deformed over time, even though no one ever overtightened those nuts, but <br>
most of them are at least slightly deformed by now, and, yes, the aftermarket <br>
replacements are all junk.<br>
<br>
I also like to take a tapered reamer to the holes in the strainer. Those get <br>
pounded inwards over time, making the strainer hard to remove. Taking a bit <br>
off with the reamer makes R/R of the strainer much easier.<br>
<br>
Jim<br>
<br>
On 27 Jun 2020 at 17:51, William Jahn wrote:<br>
<br>
> Jim :<br>
> I changed the oil today, used Valvoline VR1 , had enough left for one oil<br>
> change.<br>
> What I never checked was the sump plate and I used the one off the 72 which<br>
> has the drain plug. I needed it because the 73 plate was really butchered<br>
> and because I wanted to add a VDO temp sensor all I knew about were the<br>
> ones they offered for the sump.<br>
> <br>
> I drove the car to get the oil really warmed up then it drained better and<br>
> while I cleaned the screen and plate I decided to check the plate for<br>
> flatness around the 6 holes. I always just cleaned it , never over<br>
> tightened the cap nuts. I decided to check it and the 6 holes were dimpled<br>
> . I did the best I could with a ball peen hammer , plate on hardwood<br>
> striking the ball peen with another hammer. It was better yet still not<br>
> flat so I filed each hole flat and then polished the surface with wet /dry<br>
> 600 . I also discovered since I didn't want to ruin the sender I removed it<br>
> and it was too easy maybe 3 ft lbs. I had good copper drain crush washers<br>
> and replaced that. Today I put it all back together. This time I only used<br>
> a nut driver and 10 mm socket and did the same star pattern three times<br>
> with maybe 20 minutes between just to allow the gasket Felpro brand to<br>
> compress. I didn't file off much. Maybe .010" the plate is still plenty<br>
> thick. I had an old Empi chrome plate yet it was complete garbage, nothing<br>
> like the original and certainly not what I would consider flat.<br>
> <br>
> I don't know why I never checked the plate around the holes, I just looked<br>
> at it, cleaned it and back on it went. I just assumed since I never over<br>
> tightened it it was fine.<br>
> <br>
> I know there are other leaks yet the plate always seems to develop oil<br>
> drops on the 6 cap nuts. Maybe now this will slow things down. Nothing<br>
> looked like much gray sludge, just a bit of black bits that were not<br>
> magnetic, Turns out I had to tighten the two cap breather and I did this<br>
> after the last oil change and as you know to get at the nut you need to<br>
> remove the barrel and washer . I cleaned those yet some of that crud had to<br>
> drop down in the sump just pulling them out.<br>
> <br>
> William<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On Sat, Jun 20, 2020 at 9:57 AM Jim Adney <<a href="mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org" target="_blank">jadney@vwtype3.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
> > On 20 Jun 2020 at 9:08, William Jahn wrote:<br>
> ><br>
> > > where I do see fresh oil is on the bottom tins and of course the floor,<br>
> > > especially if I have the engine running<br>
> ><br>
> > Once upon a time, I had a rather moderate leak on an engine that I had<br>
> > just<br>
> > rebuilt. Eventually I discovered that this was around the oil sump plate.<br>
> > When I had bolted the engine case halves together, I assumed they would<br>
> > line up perfectly on their own, but on that case, the 2 sides didn't quite<br>
> > match. There was a "step" at the case seam, about 1/2 mm high. The oil<br>
> > change gaskets couldn't quite seal that much of a mismatch. This step was<br>
> > easily felt when I ran a finger around that gasket surface, but I had not<br>
> > thought to do that as I assembled the engine.<br>
> ><br>
> > At the next oil change, I was able to loosen all the nuts along the bottom<br>
> > case seam and work the 2 sides back into alignment. It didn't take any<br>
> > real<br>
> > effort, so I don't know what I did wrong in the original assembly process,<br>
> > but<br>
> > this is something I always check now.<br>
> ><br>
> > Of course, I've also come across sumps where someone left half a gasket<br>
> > stuck to the case. That's also something a new gasket won't seal.<br>
> ><br>
> > --<br>
> > *******************************<br>
> > Jim Adney, <a href="mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org" target="_blank">jadney@vwtype3.org</a><br>
> > Madison, Wisconsin, USA<br>
> > *******************************<br>
> ><br>
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<br>
-- <br>
*******************************<br>
Jim Adney, <a href="mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org" target="_blank">jadney@vwtype3.org</a><br>
Madison, Wisconsin, USA<br>
*******************************<br>
<br>
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